More than 125 years ago, Oglala Lakota Chief Red Cloud successfully lobbied the United States government for permission to establish a Jesuit school in western South Dakota. His people were facing irrevocable economic and cultural loss—and he believed a Jesuit education would help them to survive in a rapidly changing world while remaining true to their Lakota identity. 

Today, Chief Red Cloud’s vision is alive and well on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Red Cloud Indian School, a multifaceted Jesuit organization, just outside the small town of Pine Ridge, has emerged as a leader in holistic education, cultural and linguistic preservation, spiritual formation and social justice.  

“We are so proud and humbled that, after 125 years, Red Cloud Indian School is stronger than ever,” says Red Cloud’s President Father George Winzenburg, SJ. “Our focus on providing a holistic and rigorous education for Lakota students, engaging the community through Native art, supporting the faith and well-being of families at six churches and bolstering the economic landscape here on Pine Ridge is having a real and powerful impact. And this is only the beginning.”  

“Red Cloud represents a true convergence of Jesuit and Lakota values, in support of an education of the mind, body and spirit,” explains Executive Vice President Robert Brave Heart, Sr. “We work to incorporate Lakota heritage, identity, and particularly Lakota language and the arts into everything we do. That has resulted in tremendous success for our 600 students academically, culturally and spiritually.” 
   
Mission 

The mission of Red Cloud Indian School (RCIS), a Catholic Institution administered by the Jesuits and the Lakota People, is to develop and grow as a vibrant Church, through an education of the mind and spirit that promotes Lakota and Catholic values. 

The Opportunity:  Director of Major Gifts 

In concert with Red Cloud Indian School’s leadership, RCIS’s first Director of Major Gifts will manage strategy and solicit funding toward meeting the institution’s approximately $12.8 million in annual operating expenses and an upcoming capital campaign’s initial $6 million goal in support of bus and technology upgrades, endowment funds and the developing campus plan. Reporting to the Vice President of External Affairs, with two Major Gift Officers as direct reports, the Director of Major Gifts will be instrumental in developing the infrastructure and mechanics to move from a quiet initiative to what will be a substantially larger campaign in the next year.  The Director of Major Gifts will work with the Advancement Leadership Team to develop and build a national major gift effort within a successful, growing and diverse advancement effort. Ultimately, she/he, along with their advancement colleagues, will establish a solid framework for the future stability of the organization’s advancement effort.   

Primary Performance Objectives  

Leadership and Fundraising Management  

• Work closely with the Vice President for External Affairs and the Major Gift Officers to create and implement strategies and departmental goals for identification, solicitation and stewardship of an active portfolio of high-net-worth individuals. 
• Lead, manage, mentor and guide the national Major Gifts Officer team, deciding the most effective and productive use of travel time and resources to achieve annual fundraising goals. 
• Develop and implement effective strategies to capture and maximize the individual giving potential of major donors (targeting $25,000+) and prospects to meet fundraising goals.  
• Promote the involvement of Major Gift Officers in a strategic donor relations program including site visits, other engagement opportunities and philanthropic communications.  
• Manage a portfolio of approximately 150 high-net-worth donors/prospects following effective moves management processes from qualification to stewardship.  
• Set annual and campaign fundraising goals including unrestricted, restricted and planned gifts from individuals in partnership with the Vice President for External Affairs and RCIS’s leadership team.  
• Actively engage the President, Vice President of External Affairs, Board of Directors, other key stakeholders, and high-level donors/volunteers in the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of individual gift prospects.  
• Oversee and ensure integrity of regular reporting on goal achievement to demonstrate progress, identify areas of concern, and revise major gift strategies as needed.

   
Donor and Volunteer Relations  
 

• Build, nurture and cultivate relationships with current donors, prospective donors, Board Members and volunteers.  
• Research and develop initiatives to identify, prioritize, cultivate, solicit, recognize and steward donors and prospects. 
• Travel extensively, communicating to donors and prospects a strategic understanding of RCIS’s priorities and projects.  (The estimated travel time for this position is up to 50%). 
• Maintain strong working knowledge of RCIS’s academic, cultural and pastoral programming, and its budgetary constraints, coupled with, a clear understanding of the educational, social justice and native arts trends and issues facing the Lakota People. 
• Identify and package a dynamic portfolio of funding opportunities that support RCIS. 
• Set and monitor annual revenue targets for major gifts, developing regular updates on institutional donor revenue for RCIS’s leadership and Board of Directors. 
• Prepare Red Cloud senior staff for key donor meetings and cultivation activities. 
• Make numerous decisions on cultivation time, committed vs. expected, gift response. 
• Assign key participants to various donor and prospect relationship-building initiatives. 
• Develop and implement a system to identify major and planned gift prospects and create strategies to match prospects' interests to RCIS’s strategic imperatives, building a sustainable donor pipeline. 
• Make timely and effective use of RCIS’ records management resources to ensure an accurate donor database, currently comprised of 70,000 active donors, as well as ongoing reporting updates.

The Qualified Candidate 

Red Cloud Indian School is seeking an accomplished fundraising professional to serve as its first Director of Major Gifts. This new position will work closely with RCIS’s leadership team to develop and grow a national major gift effort.  She/he will be self-motivated, results-oriented, resourceful, creative, highly energetic, intelligent,  culturally sensitive, willing to learn about Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit education, speak coherently about the Catholic Church, and, be a humble listener, with exceptional interpersonal, communication and organizational skills, and the ability to appreciate and encourage a team perspective. The successful candidate will be passionate and knowledgeable about RCIS’s mission and history, and, a professional fundraiser who excels at relationship-building with internal and external constituencies alike. With an eye toward launching a capital campaign, the Director of Major Gifts, in collaboration with the Advancement Leadership Team, will establish an infrastructure for future growth and development. Central to the role will be the continuum of donor cultivation and the education and nurturing of major gift prospects. A strong preference will be given to those individuals who bring a proven and progressive background in major and planned gifts fundraising.  The Director of Major Gifts will travel to Red Cloud Indian School for an initial week of on-site meetings and work on location 3-4 times per year, but may otherwise reside off-site and work in/near any metropolitan area with airport access. 

Specific Requirements Include: 
 

• Deep commitment to Red Cloud Indian School’s mission with a genuine willingness to continually learn about its academic, cultural and pastoral programs.
• A minimum of 5 to 7 years of professional development experience with an established nonprofit organization in related field - education, museums, and/or, social justice. 
• Successful and progressive background in donor solicitation and stewardship processes. 
• Strong working knowledge of strategy development and moves management systems in the cultivation, solicitation and successful closing of five-, six- and seven-figure gifts from individual donors. 
• Energy, desire, and willingness to work remotely from a home office; previous experience working from a similar base of operations preferred. 
• Travel regularly, based on donor cultivation meetings and events, and need for external presence. 
• Demonstrated experience with capital campaigns. 
• Accomplished fundraiser with best practice knowledge and skills to successfully motivate, engage, and interact with senior leadership, high-level donors and Board/volunteers. 
• Outstanding ability to discern and respond to patrons’ interests to meet both donor and institutional goals. 
• Proven ability to effectively motivate and manage staff teams, and to build cohesive, collaborative partnerships in a fast-paced, complex and culturally-diverse environment. 
• Exceptional leadership, planning, and organizational skills. 
• Superior supervisory and project management skills. 
• Excellent verbal, written and presentation communication skills. 
• Up to 50% of time will be required for travel to make calls with the individual donors/prospects in their portfolio, or, accompanying the two Major Gift Officers, Vice President for External Affairs and RCIS’s President on visits with their designated donors/prospects. 
• Hands-on experience with Raiser’s Edge and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite. 
• Experience with planned giving preferred. 
• Bachelor's degree; Advanced degree and/or CFRE credential preferred.

Compensation and Benefits: Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. 

RCIS is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria.  Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V 

To Apply 
 
The search is being managed by Laura Weinman, Senior Consultant of Alford Executive Search.  To apply, candidates should submit their cover letter and resume and complete the online application at http://alfordexecutivesearch.applicantstack.com/x/openings. No applications will be accepted via email. Questions may be addressed to Kathrene Wales at kwales@alfordexecutivesearch.com. 

Alford Executive Search - The KEES to Effective Leadership is a retained search firm dedicated to providing placement services of exceptional quality. 
  
 
MORE ABOUT RED CLOUD INDIAN SCHOOL 

Today it is clear that Red Cloud Indian School’s distinctive educational approach is working. Recent data suggests that only 51 percent of Native American students across the country received a high school diploma in 2010. At Red Cloud, nearly 100 percent of students graduate and go on to post- secondary education or training. Scholarships and awards often support students’ future plans. More students at Red Cloud have earned the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship than at any other school of its size in the country. To date, 59 RCIS students have received the merit-based, full-ride scholarship since its creation in 2000.  

Red Cloud Indian School’s graduates take those awards to some of the nation’s top universities. Today, Red Cloud graduates are studying political science at Stanford University, engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and English at Dartmouth College. Many alumni choose to serve their communities and improve conditions for Native families both on and off the reservation, serving as social workers, advocates, educators and members of the armed forces.  

The Heritage Center, located on RCIS’s campus, deeply enriches the school’s educational model. This unique cultural center holds a collection of more than 10,000 pieces of contemporary and historical Native and Lakota art—and provides the local Pine Ridge community with access to an internationally significant resource.  The Center promotes Lakota art through cultural and economic development programming in an area with an incredible history and future to share.  With scarce resources on the reservation, The Heritage Center has historically played a key role in providing both economic support for local artists by selling their work and providing a venue for Lakota people to celebrate and share their arts and crafts.  It is one of the very few outlets available in the region that promotes both economic and social self-sufficiency for Native artists especially.  To that end, the summer art show is the largest and longest-running Native American art show of its kind in the country, and one of the few held on an Indian reservation. 

Additionally, Red Cloud Indian School maintains a Catholic presence in the communities where their churches are located and provide a safe and caring environment where children and families can worship and learn about their faith.  With six active churches and three active missions, the pastoral ministry programming serves more than 800 families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  Outreach initiatives include religious education, youth ministry, and the formation of Lakota Lay Leaders. The Pastoral Program is at the service of the Bishop of the Rapid City Diocese. 


The Lakota Today 

Several of the Plains tribes are referred to by the term “Sioux”. This inaccurate term is thought to be a French abbreviation of the Ojibwe (Chippewa) word meaning “snake”. The Sioux identify themselves as Lakota, Dakota or Nakota (which are the three dialects of the Great Sioux Nation), a term which means “friend” or “ally”. The Lakota Nation is the conglomeration of several bands, known as the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or the Seven Council Fires. The largest of these Council Fires is the Thítȟuŋwaŋ, which means “the People of the Plains”. The Thítȟuŋwaŋ are further divided into seven sub-bands, of which the Oglala is the largest. The Oglala are recognized by the United States government as the Oglala Sioux Tribe. 
    
The Oglala traditionally occupied a large swath of land surrounding the Black Hills area, a sacred site for the Lakota. They boast a long list of great leaders such as Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Loneman and Young Man Afraid of His Horses. The people who presently live on the reservation are a strong people—filled with a beautiful culture grounded in the traditional Lakota values. While there are many things that any culture finds to be virtuous, there are seven virtues that are considered by many to be the heart of the Lakota way of life. These are Wóčhekiye (Prayer), Wóohola (Respect), Wówauŋšila (Compassion), Wówičakȟe (Honesty), Wówačhaŋtognaka (Generosity), Wówaȟwala (Humility) and Wóksape (Wisdom).  These correspond with the seven Catholic Sacraments. 


Pine Ridge Reservation 

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is beset with challenges, mostly arising from poverty and the cultural damage caused by destructive government programs of assimilation:

• 89 percent of residents are unemployed.  
• Only 12 percent of residents have earned a Bachelor’s degree.  
• With a per capita income of less than $8,000, it is the second poorest area in the United States.  
• 61 percent of residents 17 years and younger live below the poverty line.  
• Life expectancy is the lowest in the Western Hemisphere except for Haiti, with an average of 48 years for men and 52 years for women.

Yet despite these challenges, those on the Pine Ridge Reservation remain strong in their heritage, culture and commitment to a future that is brighter than today. Residents are transcending these realities and turning barriers into opportunities. The Lakota people celebrate a culture rich in creativity, artistic expression and an entrepreneurial spirit. And these traditions span across age demographics and socio-economic statuses within the community. RCIS supports that effort by providing the foundation for students, artists and families grounded in the support and tools they need to overcome the challenges they face, recognize their own giftedness and achieve their dreams. 


Advancement/External Affairs Effort 

The philosophy of the advancement/external affairs effort is one of education, empowerment, and engagement. Currently, this unique nonprofit organization is moving through a 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.  The goal is to provide programmatic and capital improvements and endowment security for Red Cloud Indian School so that the hope that is being provided today will be available for future generations.